Gianforte applauds progress on COVID in Montana

Gov. Greg Gianforte said the state continues to make progress vaccinating residents against COVID-19, and will continue to quicken the pace as more and more vaccine is allocated to the state after a year of hardship for Montana.

Gianforte said, while the situation in Montana is getting better and better the more people get vaccinated, the state has seen some bad times in the last year.

“This crisis has brought real serious challenges and many dark days,” he said.

He said over 100,000 Montanans have contracted COVID-19 and 1,400 lives have been lost, and that only acknowledges the pandemic’s effects that are easiest to quantify.

He said the state has seen an increase in depression, anxiety, suicide, drug use, domestic violence and child abuse, and food insecurity, issues he said are almost certainly underreported.

Gianforte said the economic impacts of the pandemic were striking as well, with 200,000 Montanans fillng for at least initial unemployment benefits.

However, he said, despite all of this, Montana’s situation is getting better, with four straight weeks of less than 200 new cases per day and only 951 active cases, a number unseen since July 13 of last year.

He said 16 counties in the state now have zero active cases.

Gianforte applauded the actions of Lewis and Clark County, which recently lifted all COVID-19 restrictions except their mask mandate, and Yellow Stone County’s decision to keep schools open full time which he called a brave move.

He touted his recent expansion of Phase 1B of the vaccine rollout to Phase 1B+ which lowered the minimum age people with qualifying underlying conditions had to be to get the vaccine from 75 to 60.

When asked later in the press conference if the state will be able to move on to Phase 1C on time in the wake of Phase 1B’s expansion neither Gianforte nor COVID-19 Task Force Director Maj. Gen. Matthew Quinn answered beyond saying that current COVID-19 trends are encouraging.

Gianforte said the state has given out 345,000 doses of vaccine and more than 15 percent of the eligible population are fully immunized.

He also announced that the state would see another 25,000 first doses come into the state this week with second doses guaranteed.

“Getting a vaccine will help us slow the spread of this virus,” he said before repeating his commitment to getting his own vaccine as soon as his name is called.

He said he wanted to thank Montanans for stepping up and keeping their neighbors safe but he especially wants to recognize the doctors, nurses and other health care professionals, particularly volunteers, who’ve been fighting the disease directly.

“You’ve exhausted yourselves as you’ve cared for others,” he said. “You’ve been on the front lines, you’ve tended to the suffering and held the hands of Montanans who we’ve lost.”

Gianforte said everyone in the state should thank them for their work, and he prays for those still hospitalized by the disease at this moment.

Quinn also spoke at the press conference and tried to emphasize the humanity of the people who have been lost to COVID-19.

“Those were Montana mothers, fathers, grandparents, sons and daughters,” Quinn said.

He also applauded, and defended, those working in public health for their efforts to combat the disease.

“You may not agree with all the decisions they’ve made, many decisions I have been a part of, but I assure you those decisions were not made out of malice, a desire for power, or self-serving attitudes, quite the opposite,” he said. “Those decisions were selfless made to try to protect each and every Montanan.”

He said the COVID-19 Task Force has needed to coordinate searches for medical supplies and personnel, as well as make recommendation to policy members day and night since it was formed and has worked through equipment deficits along with disaster and emergency services agencies across the county.

Quinn said the rollout of the vaccine is the way the pandemic will finally come to an end.

“Vaccines are the path out of the COVID-19 world we’ve been living in for the past year,” he said.

Economic impacts

Montana Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Todd O’Hair spoke about the economic impacts of pandemic and described how businesses in the state are doing, which he called a mixed bag at best.

O’Hair said many businesses did not survive the initial economic shock of the pandemic, with many others closing later, never to reopen.

He said others businesses, even as the state reopens have yet to see the full impact of the pandemic run its course.

Despite this, he said, recent times have been brighter.

“There is cause for a little optimism and hope,” he said.

O’Hair said many businesses evolved and adapted quickly during the pandemic, and they should be applauded for protecting their employees and their customers, as well as those that transitioned to creating medical and testing supplies.

He said he’s happy that Montanans appear to have made good-faith efforts to buy local and support small businesses, and said that should continue, especially for those businesses which support local institutions like high schools.

He said one of the few positive side-effects of the pandemic has been the wide-spread acceptance of remote working as a viable option for many businesses.

“This has opened Montana up to a whole new economy,” he said.

Like Quinn, O’Hair thanked Gianforte for his leadership, and also thanked him for signing into law a bill that would shield businesses from liability for COVID-19 transmission at their establishments provided they make good-faith efforts and follow industry best practices to keep people safe.

He said over the last year he received a great number of calls from businesses concerned about the issue the bill addresses, and it quickly became the number one issue in the business community.

He said this law will be the foundation of recovery for Montana economy and he chastised congress for not passing similar laws for the whole country.

Questions on bills

During the press conference Gianforte called the American Rescue Plan fiscally irresponsible, claiming very little money will ultimately be spent on COVID-19 relief, and the rest supporting a “progressive wish list.”

When asked about a recent amendment to Senate Bill 159 which increased the proposed cut to the state’s income tax by 25 percent, one that was apparently cleared with him before proposal, he did not answer.

Gianforte was also asked about Senate Bill 215, the Montana Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which would allow individuals and entities to claim exemption from laws and policies if those rules substantially burden the expression of their religious beliefs.

Proponents argue it bolster religious liberties and increase the standard for how and when the government can interfere with a citizen’s expression of faith, while opponents argue that it effectively legalizes discrimination, especially for against members of the LGBTQ community.

Gianforte said the bill is consistent with the First Amendment and he looks forward to it reaching his desk.

“It’s unfortunate that we even need a bill like this,” he said.